


Liars, Liars Everywhere

by khaleesisophie



Category: Naruto
Genre: Chaptered, Established Relationship, GAY GHOST HUNTERS, Horror, I went on a horror binge and now my fingers can't stop, M/M, Supernatural- freeform, lots of spooky shit wooooo, mystery crap, there's a ghost hunting squad in this woo, trigger warnings will be updated with the fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2018-09-11
Packaged: 2018-11-29 20:40:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11448663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/khaleesisophie/pseuds/khaleesisophie
Summary: In which Sasuke's life was ordinary. Only child of protective parents, two best friends, toast in the morning hanging off the corner of his mouth when he made his way to school.Well, at least until shit hit the fan.The lesson to be learned is that nothing is ever as it seems.





	1. Chapter 1

When he walked the streets, he walked alone.

He often enjoyed the feel of the weight of the blade in his hands. His knife was as long as his forearm, and made with a satisfyingly thick cut of metal. It glinted under the orange light of the of the streetlamps.

There was a girl just down the street, yapping into her smartphone. Her blonde hair glowed under orange lights, and her pretty pink mouth flapped open and shut. 

He admired that mouth, its fullness, the perfect heart shape. He waited for her to take notice of him, and when she did, she gave him a soft smile and put down her phone.

His breathing under his mask quickened, and he stepped forward to meet her.

***************

 

Waking up was never an elaborate affair in the Uchiha household. Sasuke usually just got up at the crack of dawn, lather himself in the shower with whatever fancy French soaps his mother insisted on buying, get dressed grab some toast from the table, and then wait out on the lawn with his long board.

Being the only child, all of his whims were granted but with compromises: you can only use that ridiculous board to school if you’re with Naruto and Sakura, you can only go to the movies with Naruto and Sakura, you can do whatever your little heart desires as long as it’s with Naruto and Sakura. Well, everything but drugs.

Sasuke adored his best friends, though he would never admit it, but they were pretty much his second parents by now. 

Naruto was already waiting for him when he stepped out onto his lawn, sitting on the sidewalk with his long board tucked into his arm. He was absentmindedly blowing perfectly formed bubbles from a wand onto the street and watching them pop as they went. 

Sasuke stilled in his footsteps, wondering if his heart would never stop quickening at the sight of Naruto’s hair glowing in the sunrise, of his impatient foot tapping against the gravel as he waited for him. 

Naruto turned to him with a blinding smile, and stuck his bubbles into his pocket.

“Hey, asshole.” he said. “Sakura’s on the way.”

“Yeah.” was Sasuke’s only reply. He sat down next to Naruto on the sidewalk, and halved his toast with him. Naruto bit into it, and lay an arm across his shoulders.

Sasuke wanted nothing more than to lean into his warmth, accept this tender act of love, but as always, cold fear gripped his heat. But Naruto always understood.

 

“Good morning, idiot.” he whispered, just as they heard the wheels of Sakura’s long board rushing down the street.

***************

Guns in the bedroom drawer. Check. Knife collection under the bed. Check. Holy water… not check.

“Babe,” said Kakashi Hatake to his absolutely wonderful fiance, who totally didn’t orget the fucking holy water again. “Where’s the holy water?”

“It’s in the pantry!” Obito yelled from the bathroom. 

“With the regular water?”

“Yes with the regular water! If a demon breaks in, they wouldn’t look for it in the fucking pantry!”

Kakashi robbed at his forehead, feeling tired all of a sudden. “Obito, they’re not going to be looking for it in the pantry because it will be in my pocket.”

“You keep your porn in your pockets!”

“Babe-”

“You know what. Fine. Put your fucking holy water with your fucking porn. Can I please just PIMFP?”

“PIMFP?”

“POOP IN MOTHER FUCKING PEACE!”

Kakashi laughed, yelled an “I love you!” and ran out the door before his fiance could finish up in the bathroom and hurl his knife collection at him.

When he got into his car, he revved up the engine and opened the news app on his phone as he waited for it to warm up. Konoha was Obito’s hometown and absolutely bursting with Spiritual energy, but he wasn’t sure how much money he could make as a ghost hunter.

Thankfully he and Obito had thought to secure themselves careers before going into the supernatural business, but they actually made quite a bit. He was a teacher, and Obito was an established horror author. He never had to look for new ideas- they ran into so much weird shit that Obito could simply write down what happened to them and make it happen to his original characters.

They had been in the business since they had graduated college, after Kakashi had run into a Kuchisake Onna two years prior. Obito had been the one to find him, lying on the street with blood pooled around his head.

Before that, Obito had just been a classmate who he occasionally partied with, but after visiting him in the hospital and explaining to him about the reality of the supernatural, and his own psychic abilities that had led him to Kakashi that night, Obito became something else.

A wonder. An enigma. Both too simple words to fully explain what Obito Uchiha was to him- he was everything in the universe, and more. He’d spent years trying to put all he felt for him into words, but never quite could but for mere meaningless phrases such as “wonder” and “universe”. 

To this day he still wondered why Obito was with him- the Kakashi Hatake who was not and would never be as special and beautiful as Obito Uchiha.Obito had never told him why he’d accepted his invitation for a date, then a second, then a third. Obito was one of the most emotionally open people he knew, but all actual talk about it had him shutting off. Kakashi understood. He always had.

He locked his phone just to look at Obito’s face on his lockscreen for a moment, and then unlocked it again to continue scrolling through the news app. Something caught his eye then.

KONOHA HIGH STUDENT ATTACKED AND LEFT FOR DEAD

Early this morning, Konoha High Senior Ino Yamanaka was found…

He opened the link. Ino Yamanaka had been found at 3 am in front of her home, with a Glasgow smile cut into her face. 

His heart was beating out of his chest, and suddenly he could feel the throb of the long-since healed marks on his own face. He dropped the phone.

“Obito!” he yelled, running out of the car. “I think we have business!”


	2. Chapter 2

It had been, for all intents and purposes, an ordinary day until Sakura had received the call that one of her best friends was in the hospital at lunch time, and got up from the table she shared with Naruto and Sasuke to answer it.

Sasuke watched her walk away from them and towards the trash cans, unable to explain the hint of dread that made his palms sweat, and watched her lips pressing into a thin line as she listened to whoever was on the phone. After she hung up, she walked over them stiffly and told them they were going to visit Ino in the hospital after class ended for the day.

“What happened?” Naruto asked, blinking in that adorable goofy way of his. “Is she sick?”

Sakura burst into tears.

Sasuke wordlessly handed a wad of napkins at her while Naruto panicked and gave her his and Sasuke’s cups of pudding- fucking asshole, didn’t even ask- while saying “Oh my God, you’re crying, oh God, please don’t cry, fuck, shit-”

After she’d calmed down, she showed them the news article.

Sasuke had never particularly cared for Ino Yamanaka, she was far too bitchy and annoying, and her crush on him back in middle school and all his efforts put into avoiding her and Karin Uzumaki (and even Sakura, for a while) still made him cringe.

However, there was a difference between reading a random news report about a random violent occurrence in some random place with some random victim, and reading a news report about a violent occurrence happening ten minutes away from where you lived and the victim being someone who had been your classmate since diapers, who also happened to be a mutual acquaintance.

Scrolling through the article on Sakura's phone, he felt bile rise in his throat. The attacker had sliced from the corners of Ino's mouth to her ears, and there was a picture of her pale, bleeding head on the familiar pentagonal tiles of the Yamanaka house's driveway. For whatever reason, guilt twisted his stomach.

Beside him, Naruto looked very pale. He squeezed his hand.

"Is she alright?" Sasuke asked, trying to keep his composure.

"She's awake and answering questions, if that's what you're asking." Sakura took her phone back from his hand.

"I'll buy her some ramen." Naruto said, suddenly brightening. "That'll cheer anyone up! "

"I don't think hot soup near her-"

Sakura interrupted him. A first. "I think she'll love that."

 

******

 

Konoha Medical Center wasn't very far from the school, just a ten minute ride and you were at the parking lot entrance.

Naruto waved at the guard when they walked in. He was here a lot, as his only surviving relative, his great Aunt Tsunade (who Naruto lovingly called "bitchy old hag") was the hospital's Head Doctor.

The guard let them put down their boards at his station, and they bought grape soda at a vending machine before heading to the elevators.

Naruto put his arm around Sasuke's shoulders as they stood, waiting to reach the seventh floor.

"Hey, asshole." Naruto whispered, his breath hot at Sasuke's ear. He shivered. "You haven't insulted me once all day. What's up with you? "

Before he could respond, Sakura was already crying hot, angry tears.

"Someone we knew just got attacked! " she shrieked, causing the elevator attendant to flinch and cover her ears. "Look what that crazy asshole did to Ino's face! Lacerations from her mouth to her ears- its so fucking.... fucking crazy!"

Sasuke didn't know why her words made him so nervous, but he could feel his palms moisten again.

Naruto was looking back and forth between Sakura, who was ranting and crying, and Sasuke, who was unusually stoic and pale, even for Sasuke.

It remained tense in the elevator until the attendant was brave enough to point out that they had arrived at the seventh floor. Sakura huffed and stormed out of the elevator, face red.

Ino was in a private room at the end of the hall. Sakura knocked on door 706 and it swung open to reveal a smiling nurse, who made them all rub alcohol in their hands before walking in.

"Hey, Ino pig... " Sakura said, sitting by Ino's feet on the bed and smiling awkwardly.

Sasuke hadn't seen a makeup-less Ino since elementary, but it didn't really matter as the lower half of her face was taped up with bandages anyway, and had a surgical mask over those.

Ino had moved to remove the mask, but the nurse made a tutting sound, and her hand fell away limply. Then she started to sniffle; big tears streaming down her face.

Sakura looked outraged. "I thought she was able to talk?! "

"Yes ma'am, " said the nurse. "But her wounds reopened from her interview with the police. She can't talk for the next couple days, at least."

As Sakura argued with the nurse, Naruto moved closer to Ino and patted her arm. "Don't worry Ino, you'll be out of here before you know it, and Sakura will treat you to ramen!"

"Who said I'm paying for it?!" Sakura said, stopping her tirade at the nurse.

Ino didn't seem to find Naruto's words comforting, and she began to hyperventilate as Sasuke stepped forward to put a hand on Naruto's shoulders.

"Hey," the nurse said, also going to the bed. "You can't get your bandages wet-"

Ino didn't listen and began to give out pained sobs, breathing hard in between and violently gasping for air.

The nurse took out what looked like a walkie talkie. "Hey, sensei, can you send new bandages for Yamanaka in room 706? "

Ino picked up a glass of water and hurled it to the floor.

"She's having a panic attack, you moron! " Sakura snarled.

"O-Oi, Ino..." Naruto looked decidedly awkward now, and a little alarmed. "I thought you liked ramen... ha ha... "

As Sakura and Naruto started to fuss, Sasuke's stomach was steadily falling to his feet. He squeezed Naruto's shoulder.

"Let's leave them alone." He whispered.

Naruto slowly backed away from Ino, who seemed to have reopened her wounds again as spots of blood began to appear along the length of her right cheek.

"We'll just text Sakura later." He told Naruto after they had retrieved their long boards.

They rode down the streets in tense silence, until Naruto threw a mischievous grin over his shoulder. His eyes twinkled, and Sasuke's heart skipped a beat.

"Race you to your house! " he shouted, kicking off the gravel to speed up.

"You know I'll win anyway, idiot." Sasuke smirked as he sped up as well, and soon they were hurling obscenities at each other all the way to the Uchiha residence.

Soon they had collapsed into Sasuke's driveway with Naruto being held in a chokehold, but Naruto laughed it off and pressed a kiss to his temple.

His mother was in the living room doing work on her tablet when they walked in.

"There's tomato juice on the kitchen table! " she called out as they ran up the stairs. Sasuke turned back to grab the chilled cans of tomato juice and ran up to his room, where Naruto was already sitting Indian-style on his bed. With his shoes on.

"Idiot, take your shoes off. " he said, putting the cans on the bed. He threw his backpack on the floor, next to Naruto's.

Sasuke laid on the bed, suddenly feeling exhausted and trying not to think about Ino's awful, pained sobs...

"Hey asshole, don't fall asleep on me." Naruto muttered, and adjusted himself to lay down next to him,propped up on his elbows to stare at him.

"I'm not sleeping." Sasuke muttered back at him, his eyes slowly sliding open to find Naruto's suddenly very close to his.

His heart was quickening again, and he rubbed at Naruto's chest. He told himself he was just feeling the material of his shirt. Not sexual at all.

He didn't know why he was so afraid of Naruto touching him like... that, but the two of them always found themselves here, making out in his bedroom, but Sasuke always telling him not to take it further.

He wondered if he could do it now. His eyes trailed from the full shape of Naruto's lips, across his lightly scarred cheeks, up to his eyes. They had darkened with want, and Sasuke's mouth suddenly felt dry.

He ran his tongue over his lips, still staring, and Naruto's eyes darkened even more.

"You can... " Sasuke whispered.

Next thing he knew, he was being kissed within an inch of his life.

He clutched at Naruto's back.

When they were in here, alone, Sasuke was always able to accept Naruto's touch, even if it was just this. There was something about being out anywhere that made Sasuke unable to lean into him, but in here, his anxiety eased and they could touch as far as Sasuke could allow.

Well, that wasn't exactly true. Sasuke felt Naruto's hand lightly brush against his hip, and panic bloomed in his chest. He scrambled to push the other boy away.

Naruto immediately backed off, and watched as Sasuke tried to catch his breath.

Naruto opened his mouth to talk, but Sasuke looked away.

"Oi, asshole, don't go around looking guilty. Come here. "

For a while they just lied there, Sasuke's head on Naruto's chest, just listening to the steady thump of his heartbeat.

****

An hour later, Sakura texted them to pick her up from the hospital.

They pulled on their trainers and went down the stairs to find his mother in the landing, sipping a cup of coffee.

"You two together yet? " she asked, her smile bright. Sasuke hid his discomfort and kept a straight face.

"No, Mother."

"Maybe soon, if His Highness permits. " Naruto's smile was wide as he squeezed Sasuke's shoulders. Sasuke snorted and swatted his hands away.

******

Sakura was waiting for them in the hospital parking lot, her board tucked under her arm.

"Let's just walk. " she said when they approached her. Sasuke shrugged.

"How's Ino? " Naruto asked.

"She calmed down a lot after you guys left. They had redo her stitches." Sakura said.

A black sedan pulled out of its parking space and was driving down where they walked. Sasuke muttered at the other two to move to the side of the driveway when the car blinked its lights at them. Rude.

Instead of driving past them, the car stopped and a man with long black hair and giant aviators stepped out.

Sakura looked alarmed, and stepped in front of them. Sasuke's fingers wrapped around the house keys in his pocket.

Naruto looked uneasy, but gave a smile to the man, who was now leaning against the side of his car with his arms crossed and staring at them.

"Is there a problem? " Naruto asked. The man smirked, and Sasuke wondered if the man wore his giant mirrored aviators for a separation in interaction, or the man just had a superiority complex.

He thought it might be the latter. Sasuke could see his reflection in the sunglasses, his figure in the center of each lens, pale in the setting sun. Something about the image made his blood run cold.

"No problem at all." The man said. "I was just wondering what three kids like you are doing, hanging around a hospital parking lot at this time. Do you need a ride home?"

Sakura's voice was clipped when she snapped a "No, thank you." She grabbed both boys by the arms and was dragging away before either of them could even open their mouths to protest.

They grabbed their long boards and as they rode away, Sasuke could feel the man's eyes boring into the back of his neck.


	3. Chapter 3

Naruto squeezed Sasuke's hand as they said goodbye, and then ran off the porch to join Sakura.

Sasuke suppressed a shiver as he thought about the strange man at the parking lot. He had a terrible feeling about that guy, and he hoped they wouldn't run into him again. His parents were sitting in the living room when he came in.

"Sasuke," said his father. "We'd like to talk to you."

He put his bag down and sat on the armchair across from then, his hands in his lap. "About what?"

"Well... " His parents exchanged glances. "We'd like it if you didn't take your longboard to school anymore."

"It's dangerous. " his father said.

Sasuke frowned. "If this is about what happened to Ino Yamanaka-"

"What happened to Ino Yamanaka?" His mother asked.

"You didn't know?" Sasuke asked, his frown deepening. If this wasn't about Ino, then why were they suddenly asking him to not longboard to school, out of the blue?

"The point is, " his mother said. "We just don't think it's.... safe, for you, anymore."

"We got you a car. " said his father bluntly. Then, the side of his father’s mouth quirked into an almost smile.

Sasuke stood up, suddenly excited. "You got me a car?! "

"Yes! " his mother's smile was wide. "Suprise! It's in the garage, your father will show you."

*****

Sitting between his mother's white Lexus and his father's gray Mercedes was a black sedan. When his eyes adjusted to the dark of the garage, he could see the Pugeot logo emblazoned on its front.

Sasuke forgot himself and ran to it, opening the door to the driver's seat and breathing in the amazing smell of _new car_.

His father smirked at him before tossing him the keys.

"Don't wreck it. " he said. "Dinner will be ready in around fifteen minutes."

*****

Naruto immediately texted him instructions to pick him up for school at his apartment. Sasuke lost himself in fantasies of parking somewhere random and allowing Naruto to kiss him senseless there, but then those fantasies were blown away when Sakura told him the same thing.

The car reminded him of the parking lot stranger's own black sedan- what had been up with that? His gut told him to steer clear of the guy. It was a good thing he had a car now, since the guy now couldn't offer to let him hitchhike if Sasuke came across him again.

His good mood suddenly gone, he went to bed.

****

Sasuke had never had a nightmare before. He was sure he probably did as a child, but his first seven years of life were filled with blank spots and blurry images.

But this time he woke up with a scream, tears streaming down his face and sticky with sweat, and he, for the life of him could not remember what the nightmare had been about and why it had him so upset.

It was stupid to be so worked up over a dream he couldn't even remember, but his hands were trembling when he pulled on his trainers.

Naruto was bouncing when he drove up to Naruto's apartment block.

"Shit, " he said, stroking the car's hood with reverence. "Sasuke, it's beautiful."

Sasuke smirked and allowed him to inspect the rest of the car, oooh-ing and ahhh-ing at its tires, and the smooth purring of the engine.

It took fifteen minutes to coax Naruto into the car, and then they were driving off to meet Sakura.

She, if possible, was even more excited over the car than Naruto was and insisted that Sasuke allow her to pose ironically over the hood for Instagram, which Sasuke gave a firm "no" to.

He tried not to be distracted by the weird, forgotten nightmare while he drove. Naruto was showing memes to Sakura on his phone, which kept the two distracted from him for the time being.

“Did you hear that we have a new History teacher?”Sakura asked, bouncing forward to put her hands on Naruto’s and Sasuke’s chairs.

“What happened to Ebisu?” Sasuke asked.

“He's on leave, remember? Cause he and Principal Iruka finally are going on their honeymoon” said Naruto. “Honestly, Sasuke, we went to their _wedding_.”

“Oh. That. Hn.”

Sasuke saw Sakura roll her eyes in the rearview mirror. He smirked.

It was only a few minutes later when he managed to secure a parking space by the school (and impress the other two with his parallel parking skills- it honestly isn't that hard), and then Naruto was bouncing out of the car and grabbing his arm to drag him out. 

“Idiot, what are you- mmf!”

Sasuke was shoved against the car door and being kissed within an inch of his life. A small part of his brain registered that they were out in public, and he began to melt into Naruto’s arms instead.

“Guys. What the hell.” Sakura didn't sound happy. 

Naruto pulled away from him to start mouthing at his ear.

“Holy shit, can you not?!”

They both ignored her.

“Don't look now, Sasuke…” Naruto’s voice was low as he whispered into his ear. “But that guy from the parking lot yesterday is here. He was driving behind us all the way here.”

Sasuke tensed up, his eyes immediately snapping open. True to Naruto’s words, the creep was parked several cars away, partially hidden by a tree as he leaned against his car, still wearing those damn mirror sunglasses.

His fists clenched, a mix of fear and anger racing through him.

Naruto pulled away with a final kiss to his cheek and a grin that eased his tension somewhat. “Let's go, Sasuke.”

“I can't believe you two. You know what. You're not coming with me to visit Ino later. I'm done. You can buy your own ice cream.”

Naruto stuck out his tongue at her. “You never buy us ice cream.”

“Yeah, and now I'm never going to start.”

It was only halfway through first period when Sasuke realized that he hadn't felt even a kick of fear at all when Naruto had kissed him outside.

***  
Kakashi looked at the senior History class he had been assigned. When looking at the class list, a few names had immediately jumped out at him. 

Naruto Uzumaki. Sasuke Uchiha. Namely, his mentor's son and a possible relative of his beloved Obito.

The spiritual energy in this particular bunch was a lot higher than the other classes he'd introduced himself to today. Kakashi’s eyes had immediately been drawn to the back of the classroom, where the teenager who was obviously Minatos son was seated. He had an arm slung around another boy who was definitely an Uchiha from the first glance- this was probably Sasuke. That would explain it.

There was also a boy and a girl who looked like they could be Hyuugas. You couldn’t get those white eyes anywhere else other than that family, and it seems like they had probably both already started in their training if their spiritual energy was so high.

He raised an eyebrow when he saw Minato’s son bend down to whisper into Sasuke Uchiha’s ear- that was definitely a surprise. But, thinking again, perhaps not. From what he could remember, Kushina Uzmaki had always been close to that Uchiha girl… Mimi or Mikoto, or something. 

Kakashi cleared his throat, and the class quieted. “Good morning. My name is Kakashi Hatake, and I am your new History teacher. As for the things I like and things I hate… I don’t feel like telling you that.”

The students exchanged confused glances.

“My dreams for the future… never really thought about it. Perhaps marrying my partner? Huh. As for my hobbies… I have lots of hobbies.”

Naruto Uzumaki raised his hand.

“Yes?”

“What are you hiding under your mask?”

Kakashi allowed himself a smile at that. “Well, if you’re really curious, perhaps I can show you.”

The students all seemed to perk up at that, and he drew his fingers upwards to pinch the edge of his mask and slowly pull it down. 

“As you can see, students, under my mask is… another mask! Now, let’s see what your previous teacher left you... have any of you started reading up on the American-Vietnamese war?”

There was a unanimous groan, and Kakashi snickered to himself.

\---

“Well, that was useless.” Sakura grumbled. “He didn’t really tell us anything other than his name. And a seven page essay due in three days.”

Sasuke was annoyed as well, but chose not to comment. He was still reeling from this morning- from his nightmare, to his new stalker, him suddenly being okay with public affection… what did it all mean? Maybe he shouldn’t let strange creeps mess with his head so much.

Perhaps he was still reeling from Orochimaru. He hadn’t even known their previous Chemistry teacher was obsessed with him- at least, not until his mother had discovered him breaking into the house and stealing his underwear. The hidden camera in his bathroom didn’t help, either. Naruto and Sakura had been outraged, and Naruto had slept over for nearly three weeks, which was fine with Sasuke.

He was shaken out his thoughts when he heard the new teacher call his name.

“Uchiha, can I speak with you?”

Naruto gave him a mocking look as he danced out of the classroom. Sasuke glared at him. Sakura wave before closing the door.

“Yes, sir?” Sasuke went up to the teacher’s des.

“Ah, do you have any siblings?”

Sasuke blinked. “I’m an only child. What did you want to talk to me about?”

“Ah, sorry. I phrased that wrong. I was going to ask you if you are related to an Obito Uchiha?”

The name did ring a bell. “One of my older cousins, I think. From my father’s side.”

Kakashi’s face lit up. “A pleasure to make your acquaintance, then. He’s my partner.”

He held out his hand, and Sasuke regarded it suspiciously before politely shaking it. 

“I also recognized your, uh, friend. Naruto Uzumaki. I and Obito used to be his students.”

That got Sasuke’s attention. Naruto knew so little about his parents, and this would definitely cheer the idiot up about that strange creep..

“Nice to meet you.” he said, the corner of his quirking up. “I'm sure the idiot will go nuts when he knows.”

\------

That afternoon, Sakura headed to the hospital nearly the instant the dismissal bell rang. 

Sasuke was alone with Naruto for once, with several hours of free time ahead of them.

“Oi, Sasuke.” Naruto grinned as he went in the car. “Let's go on a date.”

“Hn. Are you going to woo me with Ichiraku ramen again?”

Naruto had the decency to blush. “Jiraiya told me about this new cafe, actually.”

“You sure it's not a porn and coffee free for all?”

Naruto snorted at that. “Only one way to find out, neh, Sasuke?”

\----

The cafe turned out to be decent- decent, as in, there were no scantily clad women anywhere as they had feared. There was a very busty and pretty barista at the cashier, which was what Sasuke imagined to be the reason for Jiraiya’s recommendation.

Naruto started sweet talking a barista into letting them pay for their drinks after they were done with them, instead of as they ordered. Sasuke made himself comfortable at a booth overlooking the street, with lots of sunlight being let through.

A few minutes later, Naruto was sliding a small cup of Americano towards him. He thanked him with a murmur.

“So... “ said Naruto. “That thing with Ino was messed up, huh?”

Sasuke tried to hide the shudder that went through him. “I guess. There’s some psycho roaming the streets and the police hasn’t even found them yet.”

“Pervy Sage was telling me how there wasn’t any DNA in the area. Whoever did must have been pretty smart. Or…”

Sasuke smirked at him. “Or what? It was a ghost?”

Naruto’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “That would be cool, right? The Phantom of Konoha!”

“Hn. Keep dreaming, idiot. It’s probably just some pasty teenager who liked to murder animals as a kid.”

“Oh, like you?”

“Gamabunta didn’t _die_.”

“Yeah, he just had to go to the vet after throwing up for several hours.”

“Hmpf. How was I supposed to know toads can’t tomatoes?”

“Anyway,” Naruto’s grin grew wider. “Did you get in trouble with that Kakashi guy.”

“Hmphf. I’m not telling you.”

Naruto pouted at him. “ _Saaaaaaaasukeeeeeeeeeeeeee_.”

“Fine. Idiot.” He gave the idiot an affectionate smile, one that never failed to make Naruto’s face light up in return. “Turns out, that Kakashi guy used to be a student of your dad’s. And he’s dating one of my cousins or uncles, or something.”

Naruto’s eyes brightened with realization. “I was wondering why that weirdo looked so familiar. Um, hold on.”

He fiddled with his wallet for a second and pulled out a wrinkled, old photograph that had obviously been folded and refolded too many times. Sasuke immediately recognized the blond man in the middle- Minato Namikaze, Naruto’s father. Standing with him were two children, and his eyes were drawn to the one with a shock of silver hair and wearing a mask.

“Huh.” Sasuke said, taking the picture from Naruto. “His story checks out.”

“What, you didn’t believe him?”

Sasuke smirked at him again. 

They were done with their drinks around ten minutes later, though Sasuke had no idea how someone could drink even half of the sugary disaster that Naruto usually ordered. 

“I’ll go pay.” he said, getting up.

“Wait, here’s my-”

“Naruto.” He squeezed his hand. “Quit it. I’m paying.”

“Your bill is 500 yen.” said the busty cashier when Sasuke went up to the counter. Sasuke took out the money wordlessly, and was about to hand it to the lady when a hand grabbed his wrist.

“Hello there.”

The sunglasses-wearing creep was smiling down at him. Suddenly, Sasuke felt his annoyance towards the creep spike into a burning flash of anger.

“You.” he growled, and attempted to snatch his wrist back. 

“Me.” the creep smiled at him. Sasuke was once again looking into his own twisted, angry face reflected in his lenses. 

“Look.” he managed to say through gritted teeth. “I don’t want to talk to you. If you keep following me around like some kind of fucking creep, I’m calling the police.”

The man’s smile only grew wider, and his grasp on Sasuke’s wrist tightened. “Are you?”

This wasn’t good. Alarm bells were ringing all over his mind, screaming at him to run far, far away. 

“Yes. If you don’t let go of me right now-”

“Is there a problem, sirs?” the cashier lady asked. 

“Yes!” Sasuke shouted. “This man won’t let go of me!”

“Sir, unhand him before I call security.”

“Sasuke, what’s going on- you!” Sasuke’s head whirled to see that Naruto had gone up to them. “I’m going to punch you in the fucking-”

The man immediately let go, his hands held up in surrender. “Whoa, I don’t want a problem. There’s no need to call anyone.”

With that, the man spun on his heel and strode out of the cafe. Sasuke stared at the back of the man’s head- the deep green of the beanie he used to cover all of his hair, and the pale skin of his neck.

He needed to watch out for this guy.

Naruto immediately took his arm and started checking it. He was unharmed other than the red marks where the man had gripped him. 

“It’s fine!” he snapped, snatching back his arm, perhaps with a little more force than necessary.

\----

It was tense when he drove Naruto home, but Naruto still pressed a kiss against his ear before he left the car.

“Oh and Sasuke?”

“Yeah?”

“Be safe, okay? I’m going to kick that guy’s ass next time I see him.”

He nodded silently before driving away.

When he got home, his mother was sitting on the couch with her feet propped up on the coffee table.

“You’re home early.” she said, looking up. “Where are Naruto and Sakura?”

“Sakura’s visiting Ino Yamanaka at the hospital.” Sasuke said as he threw his bag on the couch next to her. “So I took Naruto home.”

“Oh, alright.” She smiled. “It’s better not to stay out too late these days, anyway. Too many creeps.”

A shiver ran down Sasuke’s spine. He picked up his bag and went up to his bedroom without a word.

\-------

When Naruto got home, he called out his arrival half-heartedly, knowing that Jiraiya was probably too into whatever he was writing to hear him, the pervert. He rolled his eyes and walked to his room.

A spike of anxiety shot through him as he touched the doorknob.

His eyes went up to the mirror he had hung in front of his door, and glared into his own eyes.

“I won’t let it get to me.” he whispered, and opened the door.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not updating in a while! I promise that this is still getting written. Life just got hectic, what with me working on my undergrad thesis and all. Wish me luck! Hope you guys enjoy this chapter.

A nightmare again.

Sasuke lay in his bed, his shirt damp with sweat. He stared at the ceiling.

He couldn’t remember the dream again. He could remember the fear, though. The helplessness.

He realized there was a slight scent in the room, one that had nothing to do with his sweat. 

Sasuke sat up and started sniffing the air. It definitely did smell odd...and strangely… familiar?

Realizing how ridiculous he probably looked, he shook his head and lay back down. He’d buy air freshener tomorrow.

\----

“Obito Uchiha?” Mikoto Uchiha beamed down at her son. “Of course I know him! I was very close to Kushina growing up, she introduced me to him and Kakashi when they were in college. This was when I was still pregnant with you, I think. Oh, Naruto wasn’t even a _thought_ in Minato’s brain yet! Time really flies, doesn’t it?”

Sasuke snorted as he helped himself to breakfast- his mother had cooked a full English breakfast including roasted tomatoes, his favorites. Fridays were the rare days he and his parents sat down and ate breakfast together. His father was sitting at the kitchen table, munching off the corner of a waffle.

“I remember that Kakashi boy was so sweet- I was really impressed. Most eighteen year old boys are… well. No offense, sweetheart.” 

“Obito. Haven’t heard from him in awhile, not since Madara died.” his father said, frowning into his place. “We’ll have to invite them over for dinner. Go talk to him for us, will you, Sasuke?”

Which was how Sasuke found himself in the awkward position of having to invite a teacher over for dinner.

Naruto made fun of him the whole car ride to school while Sakura silently giggled in the backseat.

“You’re invited too, idiot. They were both your father’s students.” 

That had shut him up. Sakura’s giggling fit, unfortunately, only got worse.

Before long, Naruto was snickering too. A small smile crept onto Sasuke’s face.

He wasn’t about to let what happened yesterday affect him, and it seemed like Naruto felt the same.

He definitely didn’t want to see how Sakura would react to what happened at the cafe. She’d… well. Sasuke knew her pretty well by now, and he could guarantee it would not be pretty.

“Are you going to visit Ino after school again?” Naruto asked Sakura once they had parked and were heading into their first class. 

“Yep!” Sakura said, her lips making a popping sound at the “p”. “She’ll actually be back in school by Monday. Turns out the lacerations weren’t as deep as they thought, and they’re actually healing pretty well. Her mom’s already booked an appointment at one of those tattoo who cover up scars with skin-colored pigments. Crazy expensive, and they’re gonna have to go all the way to Suna, but…”

Sasuke looked away. “What about the guy who did it?”

Sakura’s words faltered. She pressed her lips together, and he almost regretted opening his mouth.

“There’s still… no progress. Detective Nara- you know, Shikamaru’s dad?” she said. “Well, he was there the other day and without any witnesses or DNA evidence, it’s really hard.”

“So there’s a psychopath in the city, still out there.” Sasuke muttered. 

“Sasuke!” Naruto gasped. 

“It’ true.” he turned to glare at his boyfriend. He didn’t know why this was affecting him so much. But couldn’t they see? They weren’t safe. “And there’s… there’s nothing we can do about it.”

The silence stretched out for several moments.

“Well, it’s a good thing your parents got you a car then.” Naruto’s laugh was nervous, but it broke the tension. Sasuke felt his shoulders slump. 

Naruto took his hand, and the three of them walked on silently to class.

\----

Kakashi was happy to receive the invitation. In fact, a little too happy. 

Sasuke had been annoyed for hours, and he was still miffed when he and Naruto went to Ichiraku for a “snack”. 

He had no idea in what universe a full bowl of ramen could be considered a snack, but it really was better to go along with Naruto sometimes. 

“I was thinking we could visit Ino tomorrow at the hospital, with Sakura.” Naruto said between slurps. “You know, one last time before she leaves. It’s kinda rude that we only visited her like, once.” 

Sasuke actually didn’t agree, but nodded along anyway. “Finish your food, idiot. It’s getting all over the front of your shirt.”

\---

Saturday mornings was usually the time Kakashi reserved for taking 5k runs with Obito (they actually would give up at around 3k and do unspeakable things to each other in whatever secluded spot in the woods they usually found themselves in, but who’s counting?), so when he was woken up at 5 am with a phone call, he was extremely annoyed.

“Hello?” he said when he picked up the call.

“Kakashi Hatake? I am Asuma Sarutobi, and I’m the Chief of Police of Konoha city. I was wondering if you and your partner would drop by the station.” His eyes narrowed, and could immediately feel suspicion gnawing at him.

“Wuzza…?” Obito slurred next to him.

“Shh, go back to sleep babe. Am I going to need a lawyer?”

“I should hope not. It’s about the Yamanaka case. We have decided that we might need your assistance.”

Kakashi was definitely awake now. “When would you like us to be there?”

“In around thirty minutes should be fine.”

He looked at his alarm clock and groaned. “All right. We’ll be there.”

He hung up the phone and threw it at the bedside table. “Obito… baby… don’t hate me too much but you’re going to have to wake up now….”

\---

Thanks to Kakashi’s efforts (and a bruise on his shoulder from where Obito had thrown the clock at him), they were en route to Konoha Police Station fifteen minutes later.

Obito was still grumbling by the time they had parked, but Kakashi placated him with the promises of making it up to him when they got back home.

OfficerAsuma Sarutobi met them at the door, and they were both all business upon catching sight of his badge.

“Thank you for coming here, gentlemen. Asuma Sarutobi, at your service, but you can just call me Asuma. We’ll be meeting with Detective Shikaku Nara in his office.”

Asuma led them to Detective Nara’s office, and Kakashi wondered why the hell anyone would want to work at such an ungodly hour of the morning.

Inside were two long haired, pale eyed men that Kakashi recognized as Hyuugas. One of them he immediately recognized as one of his students, Neji.

“Mister Hatake!” Neji stood when he saw them, and held out his hand. It was good to see the Hyuugas never failed to beat nearly royalty-level etiquette into their children, no matter the generation. 

“Neji. Good morning.” He grasped Neji’s hand and shook it. “This is my partner, Obito Uchiha.”

“Ah.” Neji gave Obito a polite smile, and Obito gave him a wide grin before shaking his hand. “I and my classmates have definitely heard of you before.”

Obito immediately gave Kakashi an accusing look, but he was thankfully interrupted by the older Hyuuga standing up before he could say anything.

“Hello, gentlemen, I am Hiashi Hyuuga, the head of the Hyuuga clan.”

They both shook his hand.

“You’re Hinata’s father, then?”

“Yes.” Hiashi’s polite smile didn’t reach his eyes, but Neji’s back straightened and face lit up at the mention of his cousin. 

“Ah. She’s a wonderful student. With a strong spiritual energy, too.”

“Lady Hinata is exceptional.” Neji declared, a zealous gleam in his eyes. 

Okay, Kakashi was going to stay as far away from that topic as possible.

DetectiveNara chose that moment to walk into the room, a laptop tucked under his arm.

“Thank you for meeting with me here today, gentlemen. I assume you're all familiar with the Yamanaka case?”

They all nodded.

“Well, I'm sure it's common knowledge that the case is a difficult one since there aren't any witnesses or DNA linked to the crime.”

“So you think this case might have supernatural causes?” asked Obito, speaking up flute the first time. They all looked at him, surprised. “I mean, mine and ‘Kashi's business isn't exactly a secret. And the Hyuuga family has a reputation.”

Detective Nara chuckled. “Well, yes, you're right. And no, before you ask, we aren't jumping to conclusions here. You see, the no evidence claim isn't exactly true. At least, it was true until Mrs. Akimichi came forward about the footage her security cameras had taken from her porch.”

With that, he opened the laptop and clicked a few keys, and then he flipped around the screen to reveal an video of what Kakashi presumed to be the Yamanaka home. A beautiful, blond haired girl was talking into her phone. The time stamp read 02:00 AM.

At 2:01 AM, a figure appeared the left of the screen, who Ino Yamanaka seemed to recognize and started talking too. It seemed to have dark, shaggy hair that hid its face and…

Next to him, he could hear excitement in his lovers voice when he said. “It doesn't have feet.”

Detective Nara’s smile was a dark one. “Yes.”

\-----

They were silent when the footage ended. 

“This is not a usual occurrance.” Hiashi said. 

Next to him, Obito gave out a soft snort and muttered “Ya think?”. Kakashi nudged him with his elbow, then cleared his throat.

“Lord Hyuuga is right,” he said. “Spirits and spiritual creatures can only do so much, but physically harming a human is beyond the realm of the capabilities of a usual haunting, I’m afriad.”

Obito took his hand and squeezed it. 

“I know that Konoha has a higher spiritual energy per area than most places, but…” Obito shook his head. “Yes, this is beyond the capabilities of most areas, even the higher energy ones like this city is. But this Kuchisake Onna- yes, I believe it is one- most Kuchisake Onna are bound to certain areas, not large ones, such as street corners. This is why they’re usually known to be waiting for their victims to pass by, and they only usually appear after a sudden spike in spiritual energy, so they’re quite rare.”

Kakashi looked away. His scars itched all of a sudden.

“This one, however, we witnessed it walk the entire length of the road before approaching Miss Yamanaka. And it approached her, not the other way around.”

“Meaning,” said Hiashi. “This is just the first sign of quite a lot of trouble.”

They were all silent for a minute.

“You seem to have experience with Kuchisake Onna.” Neji said to Obito.

Obito looked sheepish. “Yes. Ah, that’s because, um…”

“It’s alright, darling.” Kakashi gave his hand another squeeze. “I and Obito met after I was attacked by a Kuchisake Onna in college. We started the business soon afterwards.”

Neji nodded. “So it seems my assumption about your mask was correct, if you would forgive me rudeness in saying so.”

He chuckled. “It’s alright. But you can see why I’m not exactly open to the reason behind the mask. The one that attacked me was created and was bound to a street corner, after a psychic woman had been murdered on that spot. Detective Nara, there haven’t been any violent deaths lately, have there?”

Detective Nara shook his head. “It’s a quiet city. No murders or disappearances in the last twenty years or so. This station has been making do with robberries and domestic violence cases all this time.”

“How about rape?” asked Neji. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be caused by death.”

“Well.” Detective Nara looked uncomfortable. “Nothing comes to mind, save for one case eleven years ago-”

“Shikaku!” Asuma snapped. 

They all startled. The man had been silent the entire time.

“Ah, I apologize.” said Detective Nara. “That’s all confidential.”

\-----

In the end, they negotiated for all of them to be paid seventy-five percent of their usual fee, which sucked, but were cheered up when Asuma had called an appointment with a lawyer for a contract to be drawn up for the four of them for future use. Turns out, they really did not like their predictions of future trouble and would like to have them on retainer to help them.

All in all, it was shaping up to be a good day, despite its early start.

It only got better when Obito had immediately gone to the bedroom when they got back home, and had thrown a cheeky wink over his shoulder, hips swaying.

“Don’t draw this out too long,” Obito whispered once they were finally in bed and naked. “We still have that dinner with my aunt and uncle tonight.”

\-----

“So, I was thinking you could maybe talk to that Yamanaka girl?” Obito said as they were getting into the car. “Or, actually, we should message the Hyuugas and have that Neji kid do it. Are they classmates?”

“Yes, she was on the same class list.”

“She might be more willing to talk to a classmate than a police officer.” Obito continued. “It seemed like she recognized the Kuchisake Onna. Wonder if they picked up on that.”

“Even if they did, that footage wouldn’t be enough to identify them.”

Obito made a tutting noise, and shook his head. “That poor girl.”

Understatement of the century.

The Uchiha home turned out to be in a suburban area, a two story house that looked it fit a family of twelve rather than three. 

“How many families live in this house again?” Kakashi muttered. 

Obito ignored him and went to knock on the door. They were greeted by a smiling woman who looked like startlingly similar to Sasuke, except with long hair and half a foot shorter.

“Hello!” Obito grinned at the woman. “I’m Obito, this is Kakashi.”

“Oh!” the woman gasped. “I’m Mikoto, come in, come in!”

They walked in to find a living room with one of those ridiculously high ceilings, and tall windows to match. Kakashi wondered how much curtains that long had cost.

His eyes were drawn to his two students sitting on the loveseat, looking grumpy. Well, at least Sasuke did. Naruto just looked uncomfortable.

“Good evening, boys.” Kakashi said, going up to them. “You look happy to see me.”

Naruto grinned up at him. “Is that your _booooooyfriend_? The one you want to marry?”

Cheeky little shit.

“Yes to the first one!” Obito replied, reaching out his hand to Naruto. “Obito Uchiha, at your service. As for the second… um... “

Kakashi avoided Obito’s speculative gaze, knowing full well his face was turning red. 

Sasuke stood up as well, and politely held his hand out to Obito. “I’m Sasuke Uchiha.”

“Ah. Nice to finally meet you, little cousin.” Obito started ruffling Sasuke’s hair, and the younger Uchiha looked outraged. Kakashi noticed the speculative look on his lover's face, however, once the younger Uchiha had turned away.

“Dinner’s ready!” Mikoto said, reappearing. “Fugaku is waiting in the dining room.”

Mikoto Uchiha turned out to be an excellent cook, and Kakashi allowed himself to be ignored by his lover in favor of his long-lost uncle. 

He would have struck up a conversation with his two students, but those two were, as usual, lost in their own little world. Naruto was showing Sasuke something on his phone- damn millennials- and Sasuke had a small smile on his face.

“...anyway I was wondering, sir, where Sasuke’s siblings are?”

“Siblings?” Mikoto laughed. “My sweetheart is an only child.”

Obito looked confused. “Oh. I could have sworn that my dad showed me… ah, never mind. I might have confused you with Uncle Izuna’s kids.”

“Ah! How are Shisui and Setsuna?”

Obito shook his head. “Shisui… ah, well. I’ll tell you later. Setsuna’s in Suna, started up a cafe there and got married, last I heard.”

“Huh. I haven’t heard from either of my brothers in too long, it seems. How is Madara? Did he ever marry your other father? Hashirama, was it?”

“Yes, then they divorced when I was six.” Obito laughed. “It’s alright though. Papa married my stepmom right after. Mito Uzumaki. Then divorced three years later, and Dad and Papa remarried each other.”

Fugaku started laughing so hard he started choking, Mikoto thumped his back until he calmed down. “Yes, that sounds like them.”

“Uzumaki?” Naruto asked, eyes shining.

“Yep.” Obito turned to Naruto and threw a win at him. “She and Papa share a second cousin, Tsunade Senju.”

“You’re related to Tsunade?” Sasuke asked. “Wait, Mom, does this mean we’re related to her?”

“Oh, I never mentioned it?” Mikoto asked, a mischievous smile on her face. 

Sasuke made a miserable sound while Naruto pointed at him and fell into a fit of laughter. 

\----

After dinner, Mikoto herded them all to the living room and came back with a tray of hot chocolate. 

Naruto grabbed two mugs and joined Sasuke on the loveseat, who sniffed disdainfully at the mugs.

Kakashi went to join Obito, who was standing in front of a table covered with picture frames of Sasuke. 

“Hey.” he whispered, wrapping an arm around him. 

“Hey.” He was given a smile in return. 

“He was an adorable child, wasn’t he?” Mikoto’s voice came from behind him. She came towards them, plucked off a picture frame from the shelf, and handed it to Obito. Kakahsi leaned forward to look.

The picture was of a dark haired boy, around seven or eight years old, grinning widely. The bottom of the picture has been ripped off, and rested in the center of the frame.

“What happened to the rest of the it?” he asked.

Mikoto sighed, . “An accident when we moved to this house. We used to keep all the pictures glued in a journal, and I tore it off wrong. It’s still my favorite picture of him, though.”

“Sasuke was adorable here.” Obito said, eyes not leaving the picture. Mikoto was silent for a moment.

“Yes.” Mikoto said, her thumb stroking over Sasuke’s face. “He was.”

It was getting late, so they said their goodbyes.

Obito was silent as they went to the car, and he paused for a bit, and turned to look back at the house.

“Hey, babe, is there something wrong?”

Obito turned to smile at him. “It’s nothing.”

He went inside the car, and they drove away.


End file.
